Welsh Water secures industry-leading levels of satisfaction amongst its customers

An independent report has revealed how households in Wales who are customers of Welsh Water  are generally more satisfied with their water and sewerage services than customers in England while the company also remains amongst the most trusted across the water sector.

The report, by the Consumer Council for Water (CCW), detailed how customers reported higher levels of trust and satisfaction in Wales – where not-for-profit Welsh Water is the largest provider – for water, sewerage and retail services, as well as value for money.

Welsh Water is the only not-for-profit water company in England and Wales – meaning it has no shareholders and invests any surplus money it makes back into services and to benefit customers.

The company, whose vision is to earn the trust of its customers every day, maintained high scores across all categories, and exceeded previous results across care and trust as well as overall satisfaction of water supply and sewerage services. CCW is the independent representative of household and business water consumers in England and Wales and its report confirmed that:

• overall trust in the company increased from 7.95/10 in 2019 to 8.3/10 in 2020 (vs 7.86 in England);
• 96% of customers reported being generally satisfied with their water services (vs 92% in England);
• 88% of customers reported being generally satisfied with their sewerage services (vs 85% in England); and
• 81% of customers agreed that the company cares about the service it provides (vs 71% in England).

Welsh Water has introduced a series of new measures over the past 12 months to help support customers during the Covid-19 pandemic. This included supporting 5,000 household customers in financial need, temporarily suspending payments for approximately 45,000 businesses which closed for a period due to the Government’s social restrictions and temporarily adding over 340,000 vulnerable customers to its Priority Services Register to receive extra support during the pandemic should supplies be interrupted. The company is also continuing to lead the sector by supporting more than 130,000 customers to pay their water bills. 

Peter Perry, Chief Executive of Welsh Water said:  “As the only not-for-profit company in England and Wales, providing great customer service is at the heart of everything we do and our absolute priority. 

“We have faced an unprecedented, challenging year in responding to COVID-19 and maintain our services in some very difficult circumstances. We are determined to build on this further and ensure we continue to meet the growing  expectations of our customers. This includes harnessing technological change to provide a personalised service for customers while also maintaining  for high-quality services and good value-for-money.”